Journalist explores relationship between Islam and Christianity

Journalist Eliza Griswold, who wrote the New York Times Bestseller “The Tenth Parallel,” was the keynote speaker for the Writing and Social Justice Conference on April 9, 2012 at Salt Lake Community College’s South City Campus. Griswold’s book examines the conflict between Christianity and Islam in Africa and Asia.

“I never saw a single conflict that didn’t have a worldly or secular component to it,” says Griswold.

Griswold spent seven years over the fault line between Islam and Christianity in researching her book.

“I do have a lot of hope,” says Griswold. “The hope is in practical interfaith work that is happening particularly in Nigeria.”

As global warming causes storms to be more devastating and increases the size of the desert, people have to come together for “mutual assured survival.” While a family by itself may not be able to secure clean water or a wood burning stove, a community can.

During her experience, Griswold had to come to terms with who she was. Her job as a reporter was to tell other people’s stories as they wanted them told, but she also had to tell them who she was.

“Time and time again, I was called to define who I was,” says Griswold.